FAR Subpart 17.5 prescribes policies and procedures applicable to Interagency Acquisitions. We noted recently that this term does not refer to the same thing as “Interagency Agreement,” although people often do think of them as interchangeable terms – and use the acronym IAA for interagency agreements and acquisitions interchangeably – in their own minds.
The reason for this is that many are primarily familiar with the concept of Assisted Acquisition, which are a form of Interagency Acquisition that requires creation of an Interagency Agreement (IAA). On the other hand, many Interagency Acquisitions – probably the majority - do not involve the creation of any written agreement – IAA - between the 2 agencies.
Wait - what?
To sort this out, let’s look at how FAR 17.5 describe what constitutes an Interagency Acquisition – and what does not.
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An Interagency Acquisition IS |
An Interagency Acquisition IS NOT |
| 1. When one agency needing supplies/services obtains them using another agency’s contract - Includes FSS orders valued @ $600 or more | 1. Federal Supply Schedules orders valued < $600k |
| 2. When one agency uses acquisition assistance provided by another agency - for example, the other agency awards and administers a contract or a task/delivery order to obtain the needed items | 2. Interagency reimbursable work performed by Federal employees - EXCEPT acquisition assistance, Any contracts are incidental to the purpose of the activity by the efforts of the employees |
As shown, Interagency Acquisitions involve 2 different situations – that are best characterized by the degree of involvement between the agency with the acquisition need (“Requesting Agency”) and the agency helping to procure the needed items (“Servicing Agency”).
Direct Acquisition – The Servicing Agency has issued an ordering vehicle, e.g., FSSs or GWACs or other vehicles that give authority to other Federal agencies (Requesting Agencies) to place their own orders to meet their acquisition needs. That is, there is no specific agreement required between the 2 agencies since the funds transaction is between the Requesting Agency and the contractor.Do you already understand the requirement for statutory authorization and the other constraints applicable to Interagency Acquisitions – or want to know more? “Stay tuned” for another blog with a deeper dive into the specific documentation requirements and constraints for Interagency Acquisitions under FAR 17.5.
In the meantime, if you are new to working on an acquisition requirement where an IAA is being considered or you have been assigned to an Acquisition Team at either the Requesting or the Servicing Agency and need to get a handle on the IAA historical activity and status? One source of assistance is the video tutorials available in our suite of acquisition support products:
Acquisition planning: Facilitated Intelligent Needs Development (FIND).These short tutorials help you to understand what you need to know to effectively and efficiently meet the needs of your role and those of your agency as a whole, with respect to the IAA based on your own objectives and acquisition circumstances. The FIND, CPI and SI libraries also have tailorable Templates, Formats, Guidance documents and automated processing capabilities to assist you in ensuring the IAA-related activities are documented and tracked to ensure you are able to meet your agency’s needs.
Check out our videos that provides an overviews of FIND, CPI and SI. Or better yet, request a demo at demo@seventhsenseconsulting.com or contact us at (301) 392-1895 or lakers@seventhsenseconsulting.com.
Make it an enlightened day,
Pat Shields
Director – Acquisition Practice
Seventh Sense Consulting